Pindar and the Cult of Heroes

Bruno Currie

Description

Pindar and the Cult of Heroes combines a study of Greek culture and religion (hero cult) with a literary-critical study of Pindar's epinician poetry. It looks at hero cult generally, but focuses especially on heroization in the 5th century BC. There are individual chapters on the heroization of war dead, of athletes, and on the religious treatment of the living in the 5th century. Hero cult, Bruno Currie argues, could be anticipated, in different ways, in a person's lifetime. Epinician poetry too should be interpreted in the light of this cultural context; fundamentally, this genre explores the patron's religious status. The book features extensive studies of Pindar's Pythians 2, 3, 5, Isthmian 7, and Nemean 7.

Pindar and the Cult of Heroes

Bruno Currie

Table of Contents

1. IntroductionI. Some Themes in Hero Cult: Homer and Pindar 2. Views of Death3. Mortality and Immortality4. Hero Cult5. Uses of the word `heros'6. Immortality in renown: KleosII. Heroization in the Fifth Century BC 7. Heroization of the War Dead8. Heroization of Athletes9. Theios aner: Religious Attitudes to the Living in the Fifth CenturyIII. Five Odes of Pindar 10. Isthmian 7: Pankration victor and the war dead11. Pythian 5: The king and his royal forebears12. Pythian 2: Locrian saviour and Cyprian hero13. Nemean 7: Boy pentathlete and Delphian hero14. Pythian 3: Fire and immortality15. Epilogue

Author Information

Pindar and the Cult of Heroes

Bruno Currie

Reviews and Awards

"In his thorough reexamination of the uses of the word 'hero,' the practice of hero-cult, and the religious honors paid to some living people during the Archaic and Classical periods, the author offers important correctives to the common idea that hero cult was exclusively a cult of the dead and a way of promoting solidarity within the polis community.... A major contribution to Pindar scholarship and to the study of religious attitudes in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Highly recommended."--Choice